A new series of cookbooks has recently caught my attention. The My Cooking Class series includes Vegetable Basics , Sauce Basics , Chocolate Basics , Steaming Basics and Middle Eastern Basics . All the books have large color photographs to illustrate every recipe. I'm looking forward to spending...

In January, I made a New Year's Resolution (even though I don't like New Year's Resolutions) to cook and bake more. I've used recipes from many sources but some of the best have been from Baking Illustrated by the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine. I've made the banana bread...